Pregnancy and Birth

Pregnancy and the birth of a woman's first child mark her entry to true adulthood in many cultures. As pregnancy progresses, the woman faces the challenge of two developmental tasks. One developmental task is to accept the fetus as part of herself, yet as a separate being that is a product of conception. The woman achieves this task when she accepts her pregnancy, begins to think of herself as a mother, and prepares for childbirth. Another task for the woman is to change her child-mother relationship with her own mother to a peer, or adult, relationship. The woman will achieve this task more readily when a partner or friend is willing to provide the psychological support previously provided by her mother, and when the mother is ready to accept her daughter as an autonomous adult and accept herself as a grandparent.